East Austin College Prep Academy - Charter Middle School
About the East Austin Community Development Center
Southwest Key’s national headquarters is located at the East Austin Community Development Center at 6002 Jain Lane, Austin, Texas. Southwest Key completed construction on the $8 million facility in the economically disadvantaged Govalle/Johnston Terrace neighborhood in 2007 to be a launching pad for increasing the educational attainment and employability of residents, leading to higher paid employees, increased tax revenues and civic and economic engagement of residents. The Center is home to a Boys & Girls Club, GED and ESL classes, the AMD Community Technology Center, an outdoor amphitheater and Latino arts program, and a variety of educational programs and recreational facilities.
From the start, a cornerstone of all of our programs has been culturally-relevant education. For 12 years we have refined our model by operating leading alternative schools throughout Texas, preventing hundreds of youth from dropping out of school by providing them with individualized education in a therapeutic setting. Our innovative educational model was fully realized with the opening our charter middle school, the East Austin College Prep Academy, in 2009.
Just as we help our families to become self-sufficient, Southwest Key is taking innovative steps toward greater self-sufficiency itself. We operate two small businesses at the Center: Southwest Key Maintenance & Janitorial and Café del Sol (menu PDF). These social enterprises serve a double bottom line creating jobs for low income residents while bringing in funds to support the nonprofit mis-sion. Our Social Enterprise Complex, creating over 100 jobs and housing these and other workforce development initiatives, will be first of its kind in the country when construction is com-pleted at our East Austin Headquarters in 2011.
For more information about the Southwest Key East Austin Community Center, contact Melissa Villarreal, Cultural Arts and Community Enrichment Coordinator, at mvillarreal@swkey.org or 512-583-2505.
Mailing List
To receive updates on Southwest Key’s work in East Austin, send an email “Subscribe” in the subject field to subscribe@swkey.org.
The East Austin Community Development Project was made possible through the generous support of: |
-small.jpg)
